Worth is an area within the neighbourhood of Pound Hill, Crawley. It was a separate village and is still a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex.
Worth village has Saxon origins: Worth Church still retains its Saxon floor plan. The Wealden iron industry flourished here in the 17th/18th centuries. The coming of the railway in 1855 brought more employment to the area: the line closed in 1967.
The place appears in the Domesday book, with the old spelling "Orde". (The Domesday book's entries for Sussex, by comparison, lists Worthing as Ordeing, and Petworth as Petorde.)
With the creation of Crawley New Town, Worth village became part of it, in the Pound Hill ward; the title of the ward being changed in 2004 to Pound Hill South and Worth. It is common for signposts to be altered to use the Worth name instead of Pound Hill by local residents.
The Ecclesiastical Parish, part of the Diocese of Chichester, maintains the distinction, and is formally entitled "The Parish of Worth, Maidenbower and Pound Hill."
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